Shared Wounds and a Stuffed Dog

It was the summer of 2018 and an evening of fine dining had gone terribly wrong. We enjoyed our meal and as we went to leave, our sweet Maycee, 7-years old at the time, had ran ahead towards the restaurants large metal doors, to hold the door open for other patrons leaving ahead of us. She proudly held that door open with her usual infectious smile. As the door was coming to a close, she left her small hand on the inside of the door where it was connected to the wall. I will never forget the look of horror on her face. She was stuck at the door, her thumb was in the door, and the door was shut.

A terrible shriek, rushing around to open the door, a frantic call for help - for napkins - for something, anything to help this poor child. Needless to say, her thumb almost came off but thanks to the work of ER doctors, she was stitched up and put into a cast.

Around this time, Uncle Erik had a bit of an accident while working for the City of Weston. He had picked up a toilet on the side of the road left there for, “Large Trash Pick-up Day.” He hopped out of his truck, arms grasping around this giant porcelain pile of “gross-ness” and it simply cracked in half. It slid out of his arms while dragging a jagged piece of porcelain down his forearm, leaving a gushing wound.

He too was stitched up and made new again.

Not without much jest and laughing from family about the “attack of the toilet”. Our family even made a short video of a road-side toilet, overlayed with the intensity of jaws-themed music. It was coming to get him was the joke.

He loved joking, it was definitely his thing. So when Uncle Erik came to my house, his coffee mug was a porcelain toilet. And he loved it.

But Uncle Erik had such a big heart. He heard about Maycee’s thumb incident and wanted to show her his wound too. He came over to our house and brought Maycee a stuffed animal puppy. But it was no ordinary stuffed animal. He took the time to make it even more meaningful by adding a layer of medical wrapping to the stuffed dog’s paw. They were all in this together. Uncle Erik with his toilet-assult wound, Maycee with her thumb wound, and this Alaskan stuffed pup with a bandaged paw. This special visit was such an encouragement and just the kind of thing Erik would do.

This is just one of the many ways he showed he was more than his tough exterior. He cared deeply for others.